Thursday, February 02, 2006
EU offices closed over cartoons
Members of the defeated Fatah faction in Palestine have closed the EU offices in Gaza as part of a protest against three European papers which have published what some Muslims regard as blasphemous representations of the prophet Muhammad in cartoon form. The issue blogging here.
Mick Fealty @ 12:58 PM
It’s time to defend free speech. Cut off all funding to the Palestinian Authority with immediate effect.
Posted by on Feb 02, 2006 @ 01:18 PMNO Irish paper has published the cartoons. That’s a shame.
I agree with KiethM. I see no reason why attacks on free speech in Europe should be funded by Europe.
Posted by on Feb 02, 2006 @ 01:22 PMIn case you haven’t see them
http://michellemalkin.com/archives/004413.htm
Posted by on Feb 02, 2006 @ 01:28 PMIf cartoons of this level of tameness are deemed offensive, let’s all be thankful the Religious Hatred bill was laughed out of parliament.
Freedom of speech should of course include the right to peaceful protest, with anyone entitled to speak out against anything they deem offensive, so it works both ways. In any case it looks like the radical Islamists won’t be drinking any Carslberg or eating Danish pastries for a while.
Posted by on Feb 02, 2006 @ 01:43 PMThey’re a bit sour that lot. Take a chill pill lads!
Posted by on Feb 02, 2006 @ 01:52 PMNobody is denying anyone the right to claim to be offended (mind you that matra has long since lost all real meaning). “Peaceful protest” does not include the forcing of what is effectivly an embassy to close.
I’m sure Denmark can survive any potential boycott by Palestinians, and I feel morally obliged to switch to Carlsberg as long as this nonsense goes on!
Posted by on Feb 02, 2006 @ 01:54 PMCarlsberg is probably a bad example considering who we’re talking about.
With that said, the boycott on Danish produce extends into the rest of the Muslim world.
Posted by on Feb 02, 2006 @ 02:09 PMAttacking free speech is wrong, but bear in mind is that all it takes is a few men with guns (and I am sure that there is no shortage of them in Gaza) to stage a dramatic event. Such an event will be (and was) willingly seized upon by the Western media. For every bigot in any Muslim country, there are dozens of either open-minded or unconcerned people. I wonder how reflective of real opinion in Muslimia the western media coverage is.
Posted by on Feb 02, 2006 @ 03:21 PMThese cartoons aren’t even moderately offensive (I actually checked twice as I thought I’d accessed the wrong ones online), but I suspect a similar reaction would have emenated from the vatican and it’s apologists had ‘Father Ted’ appeared in the 70s rather than the more enlightened 90s.
It is imperative on all of us to face down religious fundamentalism in all it’s forms—the logical progression of extreme Islam has already been manifested in the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, just as the ‘religious right’ in the US and the worst excesses of catholicism in Ireland and Africa illustrate what can happen when belief systems go crazy.
Everyone should enjoy the freedom to worship, whether it’s based on a book of fables or the loch ness monster, but purporting to be ‘offended’ when the ridiculous is ridiculed is tantamount to trekkies going beserk when someone suggests that Spock has sticky-out ears.
By all means choose your delusion but don’t force it on others, and be man enough not to be upset if other people think it’s funny.Posted by on Feb 02, 2006 @ 03:44 PMIt should be noted that Soir sacked their editor for publishing.
Posted by on Feb 02, 2006 @ 03:47 PMIt should also be noted that one Jordanian paper has reprinted the cartoons and asked the Muslim world to be reasonable in its response.Arguing that the sight of a kidnapper slitting the throat of a victim does more to tarnish the name of Islam than these cartoons do.
Posted by on Feb 02, 2006 @ 03:52 PMWill Mick now be a target for allowing this filth on his site?
smcgiff, you said: “Carlsberg is probably a bad example considering who we’re talking about. “
What about Danish bacon? Are we allowed to support it?
Posted by on Feb 02, 2006 @ 04:22 PMRegarding my post above - I am curious as to why a certain word was replaced with 4 hash signs. The word I used was a five-letter word beginning with “b” to describe a person intolerant of the views of others, or the opposite of a “smallot”.
Why in the name of Allah was that screened out?
Posted by on Feb 02, 2006 @ 04:36 PMarsenal
Because unionists have feelings too.
Posted by on Feb 02, 2006 @ 04:52 PMHave to agree with the majority of posts that protest at this attack on free speech. also the protest at EU offices by armed men has to be condemned.
Is increasingly virulent intolerance emanating from fundamentalist of all religious persuasions has to be confronted and faced down.Posted by on Feb 02, 2006 @ 05:52 PMDo those offended have a different sense of humour? Would their newspapers ever publish cartoons about politicians? Is it all a misunderstanding?
Posted by on Feb 02, 2006 @ 07:35 PMWonder what the PC-brigade thinks of this? They can’t bring themselves to criticise non-whites of course...that would be ‘racist’ and we don’t want people thinking we are that now do we…
I can’t see our govt closing the Brit embassy if a cartoon mocking the Pope appeared in a newspaper or magazine. This is a warning of the craziness we risk importing into our societies if we let people from the hotspots of Islamofascism into Europe. Let’s not allow “multiculturalism” to be used to bring these crackpots in.
Posted by on Feb 02, 2006 @ 07:38 PMBrian
If anyone, Irish or otherwise, commits a crime in Ireland, they should be subjected to the criminal law.
The point about not letting in extremists would be a bit easier to take if Ireland was not a fertile breeding ground over the centuries.
Posted by on Feb 02, 2006 @ 09:30 PMArsenal this cannot be separated from immigration. Remember what happened with Salman Rushdie and “The Satanic Verses”? He had to be accompanied everywhere by bodyguards because of the Iranian fatwa and the allegiance to it by Muslim immigrants who took to the streets in the UK in large numbers. The Muslim world today resembles in attitudes and some practices the Europe of the 17th century in attitudes to religion.
If someone mocked the Pope in a newspaper cartoon in the South, many would probably find it amusing or else would be indifferent to it. Even those who wouldn’t certainly wouldn’t go around carrying Kalashnikov and threatening the property and lives of nationals of the country from which the relevant cartoonist or newspaper derived.
Until the Islamic world chills out, Western governments - including the Irish govt - should protect the future of our freedoms - including freedom of speech - by restricting especially immigration from the hotbeds of Islamic fundamentalism.
Posted by on Feb 02, 2006 @ 09:41 PMBrian.
You must count your blessings that you live in a country shere no one has ever used religion as a pretext for murder.
Can you imagine what it must be like to live some place where the established church excercises such a strong influence over the government, or leading members of the clergy run for political office?No, I’m sure that just like me, you are glad we are all civilised, not like those non-whites (your words).
Posted by on Feb 02, 2006 @ 10:08 PMCast our minds back to the 1950’s in ROI. Could you imagine the outcry if the pope or John Charles were similarly lampooned in Dublin Opinion at that time. 50 years is not that long ago.
Posted by on Feb 02, 2006 @ 10:43 PMHolt, even the Ireland of 1992 is a world away from that of now, and even then, the reaction wouldn’t have been as extreme as what we are seeing now in the Islamic world.
They are too different from us. Don’t let Turkey into the EU.
Posted by on Feb 03, 2006 @ 12:22 AMCareful folks, Constable Spartacus of the Posting Police may have to intervene here and get you all banned. Apparently he feels that any criticism of Palestinians, you know the sort of comments,(think of the criticism of the Americans and Brits and so on that regularly appear here), is “racist” and should have the poster thrown off the site.
You should all remember that anyone who does not subscribe to the viewpoint that Muslims in general and Palestinians in particular are eternal victims of western imperialists is a “racist”, that’s right a “racist”. “Racist” shut up! Burn the “racists”! No “racists” here!
Posted by on Feb 03, 2006 @ 02:12 AMI find the tenor of this discussion really appalling. There are limits to free speech.
For example, as Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes stated in a famous dissent in the US Supreme Court - defending free speech - he admitted that one should not be allowed to cause panic in a crowded theatre, by calling out “Fire!”
In today’s world, the whole globe is really a gigantic theatre, and one should be careful about what one claims or posts.
The publishing of cartoons, depicting Mohammad as a suicide bomber, etc., is highly offensive - even in the Life of Brian, he was never so depicted, and the West has become essentially agnostic about such matters. To print them repeatedly is even more provoking.
Even the American Joint Chiefs of Staff have complained about cartoons using paraplegics to score points about the Pentagon’s wars in the Middle East, and rightly so. Will there be boycotts and protests in the West if editors continue to print such hurtful caricatures of sorrow? I doubt it, but that would just be another example of our decadence.
And I say this as one totally opposed to this craziness from the beginning. But there are limits to even my opposition, and there should be limits to what people are willing to do to show their contempt, scorn and hatred of Muslims and their rigid beliefs.
Posted by on Feb 03, 2006 @ 08:54 AMWhat is the value in attacking the deeply held beliefs of millions in order to criticise the actions of a few? Certainly not all Muslims support the use of violence.
Regarding the cartoon depicting the prophet Mohammed with a bomb as a headdress, is it not akin to using an image of Christ with a meat cleaver to attack the Shankill Butchers?
Taking issue with religionists using satire is fair play. I need only mention Monty Python’s Life of Brian as an example. When accused by Christian leaders of blasphemy the film’s makers pointed out that they had, on no occasion, attacked or denigrated Christ, but they had really gone to town on the accesses of religionists.
I would also like to point out that freedom of speech is curtailed in all decent countries when ensuring that incitement to racial hatred is not allowed.
Some of the cartoons in this series are racist and should never have been printed.
Posted by on Feb 03, 2006 @ 09:21 AM
